Metsitude

After just a few days of camp being open, it's pretty clear that there is a different attitude around the Mets this year. Normally stoic and reserved, Carlos Beltran stepped to the forefront over the weekend, firing a salvo at Philadelphia normally expected from someone like Pedro Martinez.

"This year, tell Jimmy Rollins WE'RE the team to beat."

This quote served to let everyone around the Mets, and to the Phillies as well, know that it's on. The Mets haven't forgotten what went down at the end of last year, and with the acquisition of Santana, the Mets are determined to turn the page and deliver some payback to Philadelphia for a pair of indignant sweeps late last season. There was the killer instinct on Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins' quote last year raised the bar for them, and when the Mets let them hang around, the Phillies went and took it. They're the new Braves now. And as such, they're going to draw the ire of Mets fans. And we can expect similar treatment in Philadelphia, assuming their fans will fill their tiny little abomination of a ballpark, where even puny little Shane Victorini can pop HRs. "I don't care," Beltran says. "They boo me in Houston. One more city won't make a difference." But I digress. Bringing Santana to the Mets, a flawed team that nearly won its division last year, makes them the prohibitive favorite to win the Division once again. Philadelphia has made some nice little additions to their team, but they are also pinning a lot of hope on the return to dominance of Brad Lidge, the effectiveness of Freddy Garcia and one more year out of Jamie Moyer.

On the other side, Santana has not only bolstered the Mets rotation, he has also inspired his new teammates with a different type of confidence, a new attitude. We'll call it "Metsitude" for lack of a better word. It's been exuding from Mets camp ever since he showed up on Thursday. By Saturday, this new swagger had spread all the way to Beltran. Beltran has, in the past, been a reluctant poster boy for the team. In 2005, he was the man leading the New Mets, and he struggled. But blended in with Delgado, Wright and Reyes and he shined in '06 and was nearly as good in '07. In '08, he will now be counted on to make his words stand up. If the optimism of the last few days has been an indication, I wouldn't bet against it.

This team is Pissed. I like that in my Ballclub.

The Mango and The Egg

"I can breathe. It's like a big glass of cold water when you're thirsty. That's how bad we wanted Johan. I'm glad he's on our side. He's somebody who, now, everybody can rely on. Actually, he's somebody I'll love to be around. He's a great person. I'm really proud to have him here. I can't wait to give him a big hug and say, 'Hey, we're together now.' One from the left side, the other from the right side."

-Pedro Martinez

The fanfare surrounding the unofficial opening of training camp yesterday in Port St. Lucie naturally focused on a pair of pitchers, both primed and ready to return the Mets to prominence as the dominant team in the National League.

It's an enviable position to be in right now, especially with Johan Santana showing up, tossing a ball for a little while, but basically letting his actions do the talking. What's there for him to say? He's not here to say much. He's here to perform. The talking can certainly be left to another pitcher, occupying a locker two stalls to the right of Santana's. A pitcher with a sterling track record of his own, and a reputation as an irreverent and loquacious individual.
Pedro sounded off on several issues. He's glad Santana is here with him. Who wouldn't be? Where Pedro silently feuded with Curt Schilling as the dueling aces in Boston brought home a Championship in 2004, there appears to be no animosity between these two who will anchor the top of the Mets rotation. Pedro knows. He's not the pitcher he was in 2003, and with Santana now here to supplant him as the #1 guy, Pedro can now focus on just being Pedro. He knows his role on the ballclub has been solidified, and with Santana ahead of him to eat innings and, hopefully, save the bullpen, Pedro can relax, knowing that his 6 inning efforts may indeed be sufficient enough to earn a victory.

Pedro sounded off on a number of different things yesterday, not just on Santana. With the Steroid Circus coming to a head on Wednesday, Pedro himself stood up to some questions. Despite his slight build, Pedro thrived for many years throwing over 95 MPH. But since, he has broken down. The 95 turned to 88, and Pedro became a master of deception on the mound, still able to thrive on smarts. But when asked about Steroids, Pedro provided us with a typical Pedro answer:

“Yeah, I hurt because I did it clean, because I never had anything against the clean game of baseball. That’s why I was a prima donna. That’s why I hurt. That’s why I don’t pitch 33 outings every year. Because I have a small frame, and I did it clean. And all I could take was two Aleves or two Advil, a cup of coffee, a little mango and an egg, and go out there and let it go and face everybody that’s out there. And you know what? That’s the era I dominated.”

Once again, we see the Mango playing a pivotal role in Pedro's life. As a child, he sat under the Mango trees in the Dominican Republic. He threw the mangoes with his brother, Ramon. His first kiss, perhaps, came under the mango tree. And now, the truth comes out. For all the wisdom Pedro may impart on Santana or any other pitcher on the Mets, perhaps they will do it over a dish of mango. It has to be the mangoes that made him great. From his humble beginnings to now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

On this day, it's my belief that this is really the only Valentine we need.

Written Traditions

Before Keith Hernandez plied his trade on television, becoming a maven of unintentional (and sometimes very intentional) comedy and general smarminess, he was one of Baseball's greatest on-field minds. To watch him at the plate was to appreciate his strategy: Lie in the weeds, then attack. To see him field was like watching a Gene Kelly dance routine: Graceful and flawless. Both of these traits about Hernandez are made evident in the first of two books he wrote about Baseball, "If at First..."

With Pitchers and Catchers set to report to Port St. Lucie tomorrow (Johan Santana among them), it is almost time for me to pull out my dog-eared, raggedy paperback copy of "If at First..." for my annual Spring Training reading. I have read this book every march for the past 5 seasons as a way of getting me primed and ready for the Baseball season from a thinking man's standpoint.

The book, a journal-style chronicle of the Mets 1985 campaign (the paperback has a final chapter regarding 1986), gives you a great deal of insight into how Keith dealt with a lot of the outside circumstances in his life. 1985 was not a particularly good year for him off the field, with a messy divorce and the Pittsburgh Drug Trials taking place at various points during the season. Hernandez handles it all with class, never allowing it to greatly affect his performance on the field. "On the ballfield, I'm free," he says before Opening Day. Minor details that might have been missed to the general public are discussed. Hernandez discusses his relationship with the other players on the team. Tough on young Darryl Strawberry, who will eventually battle the same problems Hernandez had earlier in his career. Chummy with Rusty Staub, the newly-acquired Gary Carter, Ron Darling and Jesse Orosco. Moments are mixed in with anecdotes from his prior days coming up through the Cardinals system. Of course, his relationship with his father, who was tough on him to the point where they wouldn't speak for several weeks on end. Although I am too young to remember the 1985 season with any great detail, having read this book makes me feel like I was there for every game.

It's just about time for me to pull it off the bookshelf once again. It's a nice reminder of what to look forward to.

Delgado Believe

This is #1 of 5 Key Mets players for the 2008 season.

Carlos Delgado came to the Mets prior to the 2006 season in a salary dump deal with the Florida Marlins. His resume at the time pretty much spoke for itself. To that point, he boasted 9 straight seasons in which he hit over 30 HRs and drove in over 90 runs. His consistency and power put him among the league's elite. Delgado didn't disappoint at all over the course of 2006. In addition to his 38 HRs and 114 RBI, his mere presence in the lineup helped to make the players around him better. Carlos Beltran, for one, seemed to reap the benefits of having a feared slugger hitting directly behind him, as his power numbers surged as well. And in the playoffs, he started off with a 4-for-5 performance and a mammoth HR in Game 1 of the NLDS, and never looked back, hitting with more consistency over that playoff run than anyone else on the team. It could easily be said that Delgado was the missing piece to the offensive puzzle for the Mets that season that put them over the top and helped them drive all the way down to Game 7 of the NLCS.

There was no reason to expect anything but the same from Delgado in the 2007 season. Yes, there were a pair of surgeries, one for Carpal Tunnel syndrome and another for Tennis Elbow after the '06 season ended, and in Spring Training, the distraction of the impending birth of his first child. But coming into the 2007 season, Carlos Delgado certainly was far from a concern for the Mets.
After Opening Day in St. Louis, where Delgado drilled a ringing double to drive in the Mets first runs of the season, it seemed like everything was OK.

Wrong.

Delgado appeared to have absolutely nothing going at the plate. Fly balls that were sure HRs in 2006 died at the warning track. He didn't hit his first HR of the season until April 23rd, finishing the month sporting a miserable .188 BA, 1 HR and 12 RBI out of his perch in the cleanup spot. He played better in May, but seemed to regress in June. It was frustrating and perplexing to watch, and the Mets performance suffered because of it. With Delgado not hitting, and clearly not himself, the Mets just muddled along. Beltran's production slipped and he began getting pitched around. Delgado was benched at times, other times moved down in the lineup to 5th or 6th, with Wright and Alou hitting ahead of him. There would be moments where Delgado did come through with a big hit, and when he had two 2 HR games in late May, it appeared that he had finally turned the corner. But that was just a mirage. Delgado regressed in June, got hot in July, hitting .323 for the month, and fell flat again in August. With Delgado unable to maintain a consistent hot streak for more than a few games at a clip, Delgado was finally shifted out of the cleanup spot for good. A big 3-run HR in Atlanta at the end of August once again made us think that Delgado would regain his form in September, but just as it appeared he was going to put it together, a hip injury undercut him and knocked him out of the lineup for two weeks when the Mets really needed him. He returned with a week to go and the Mets desperate, but it was too little, too late. And on that final, miserable day, his horrendous season ended with the indignity of having his wrist broken by a Dontrelle Willis pitch. Delgado grumbling with pain outside the batters box on that afternoon seemed to be a microcosm of his entire season: Pain and Frustration.

Add in that Delgado is going to be 36 in June, and it's easy to see why Carlos is the #1 Key Met for the upcoming season. After seeing how his presence had such a positive effect on the team in '06, and how his awful season in '07 screwed things up, it's clear that the Mets offense needs Delgado to step it up and return to form in 2008. But it's not clear whether or not he has anything left. Jeff Matthews at MetsGeek put forth a compelling hypothesis based on the wrist and elbow surgeries he had after '06, and his numbers compared with another slugging 1B, Fred McGriff. What Matthews arrives at is that it's not impossible for Delgado to have a big bounce back season—he neglects to mention that it's also a Contract year for Delgado—but that his performance might be closer to that of the second half of '07. Decent numbers, but not the kind of numbers you're used to out of Carlos Delgado.

Which would mean that the Mets offense wouldn't have quite the same punch it had in '06.

Which would mean that the Mets lineup after David Wright in the cleanup spot looks pretty pedestrian.

Which would mean that if the top of the order can't carry the brunt of the load offensively, the Mets are in for a lot of frustrating 4-2, 3-1 losses where they get a lot of hits but can't drive in any runs.

I've made the "Stand up, Delgado!" joke a few times in this forum, but it's appropriate, especially going into the 2008 season. I'd accept numbers close to his career average if not quite the same numbers he put up in '06. 30 HRs and 90 RBIs would do, with a .265 BA. But you can't at all say that you know he's absolutely going to do that now, and that's what makes this a scary proposition.